Comments on: Yellow Legged Tortoiseshell from Iran http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2009/03/31/tortoiseshell-from-iran/ Are we experts yet? Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:43:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: bugman http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2009/03/31/tortoiseshell-from-iran/comment-page-1/#comment-2755 bugman Fri, 10 Apr 2009 13:59:46 +0000 http://www.whatsthatbug.com/?p=15183#comment-2755 Thanks for writing back Mohsen, Your letter has prompted us to try to concisely develop our mission statement, and we would also like to add that we promote a global community of tolerance. Have a wonderful day. Daniel Thanks for writing back Mohsen,
Your letter has prompted us to try to concisely develop our mission statement, and we would also like to add that we promote a global community of tolerance.
Have a wonderful day.
Daniel

]]> By: mohsen http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2009/03/31/tortoiseshell-from-iran/comment-page-1/#comment-2718 mohsen Thu, 09 Apr 2009 20:45:31 +0000 http://www.whatsthatbug.com/?p=15183#comment-2718 Dear Bugman... Forgive me.. I should have read the "About WTB"... Now I realize that we are all students... Learning from each other... After reading some books, I'm sure this butterfly is N. xanthomelas... Thanks for your informative reply... Yours... Mohsen Arooni Tehran, Iran... Dear Bugman…
Forgive me.. I should have read the “About WTB”… Now I realize that we are all students… Learning from each other…
After reading some books, I’m sure this butterfly is N. xanthomelas…
Thanks for your informative reply…
Yours… Mohsen Arooni
Tehran, Iran…

]]> By: bugman http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2009/03/31/tortoiseshell-from-iran/comment-page-1/#comment-2716 bugman Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:30:46 +0000 http://www.whatsthatbug.com/?p=15183#comment-2716 Dear Mohsen, With all due respect, we realize our response to you was unscientific, because the fact of the matter is, we are not scientists. We have proudly announced on our website on numerous occasions that we are artists with no scientific backgrounds. While we try our best to properly identify submissions sent to us, the fact of the matter is that counting tarsi, dissecting butterfly genitalia (a skill that our favorite author Vladimir Nabokov possessed) and plotting wing veinage is well beyond the scope of our skills. Even within the scientific community, we find that experts in Crane Flies (Family Tipulidae) are often not much help when a person is trying to identify an Assassin Bug (Family Reduviidae) because in our 21st Century world, we have specialists with a narrow scope of expertise. Our website mission, and perhaps we should post our Mission Statement on our website, is "to assist the average person in developing an appreciation of the lower beasts, while doing what we can to correctly identify the family, genus, and occasionally the species of photos submitted to our site." Sometimes it is not even possible for us to identify the family, and the order will have to suffice. Many of the Mites submitted to our site were merely identified as Mites before an Acarologist assisted us with the proper identifications. While we are sorry that you were disappointed in our unscientific answer, we did what we could, and it seems as though Susan came to your rescue with several possibilities for the proper species. Dear Mohsen,
With all due respect, we realize our response to you was unscientific, because the fact of the matter is, we are not scientists. We have proudly announced on our website on numerous occasions that we are artists with no scientific backgrounds. While we try our best to properly identify submissions sent to us, the fact of the matter is that counting tarsi, dissecting butterfly genitalia (a skill that our favorite author Vladimir Nabokov possessed) and plotting wing veinage is well beyond the scope of our skills. Even within the scientific community, we find that experts in Crane Flies (Family Tipulidae) are often not much help when a person is trying to identify an Assassin Bug (Family Reduviidae) because in our 21st Century world, we have specialists with a narrow scope of expertise. Our website mission, and perhaps we should post our Mission Statement on our website, is “to assist the average person in developing an appreciation of the lower beasts, while doing what we can to correctly identify the family, genus, and occasionally the species of photos submitted to our site.” Sometimes it is not even possible for us to identify the family, and the order will have to suffice. Many of the Mites submitted to our site were merely identified as Mites before an Acarologist assisted us with the proper identifications. While we are sorry that you were disappointed in our unscientific answer, we did what we could, and it seems as though Susan came to your rescue with several possibilities for the proper species.

]]> By: mohsen http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2009/03/31/tortoiseshell-from-iran/comment-page-1/#comment-2702 mohsen Thu, 09 Apr 2009 07:36:23 +0000 http://www.whatsthatbug.com/?p=15183#comment-2702 Dear Bugman... I can't consider your reply as a scientific answer... I speak persian and common names like "Tortoiseshell" are not useful here... So perhaps knowing the scientific name (international standards) might be more helpful...? Dear Bugman…
I can’t consider your reply as a scientific answer… I speak persian and common names like “Tortoiseshell” are not useful here… So perhaps knowing the scientific name (international standards) might be more helpful…?

]]> By: mohsen http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2009/03/31/tortoiseshell-from-iran/comment-page-1/#comment-2630 mohsen Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:20:20 +0000 http://www.whatsthatbug.com/?p=15183#comment-2630 Hi Susan... These are very similar and I've raised the small tortoiseshell too!... Ouch!... This one has a larger wingspan... Also, it has more spots on the forewing... Plus, there are no blue spots on the forewing margins... Thanks for sharing your experiences... Hi Susan…
These are very similar and I’ve raised the small tortoiseshell too!… Ouch!…
This one has a larger wingspan… Also, it has more spots on the forewing… Plus, there are no blue spots on the forewing margins…
Thanks for sharing your experiences…

]]> By: Susan J. Hewitt http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2009/03/31/tortoiseshell-from-iran/comment-page-1/#comment-2538 Susan J. Hewitt Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:17:57 +0000 http://www.whatsthatbug.com/?p=15183#comment-2538 Hi Daniel, I believe that this is the Small Tortoiseshell <i>Aglais urticae</i>, which is common in Europe, but which also occurs all the way across Asia. Assuming I am correct about the species, the caterpillars feed on the common stinging nettle <i>Urtica dioica</i> and the small nettle <i>U. urens</i>. The butterflies overwinter, often in houses or other buildings, and then come out in the spring, looking a bit worse for wear. Mohsen may not start to see caterpillars for a while, because the butterflies need to mate, lay eggs and the eggs hatch and grow a bit before the darkish, somewhat hairy caterpillars are noticeable on beds of nettles. I used to raise these butterflies myself when I still lived in England. It's not easy picking stinging nettles every day for the caterpillars to eat. I used to use a plastic bag as a glove! Best wishes, Susan J. Hewitt Hi Daniel,

I believe that this is the Small Tortoiseshell Aglais urticae, which is common in Europe, but which also occurs all the way across Asia.

Assuming I am correct about the species, the caterpillars feed on the common stinging nettle Urtica dioica and the small nettle U. urens.

The butterflies overwinter, often in houses or other buildings, and then come out in the spring, looking a bit worse for wear.

Mohsen may not start to see caterpillars for a while, because the butterflies need to mate, lay eggs and the eggs hatch and grow a bit before the darkish, somewhat hairy caterpillars are noticeable on beds of nettles.

I used to raise these butterflies myself when I still lived in England. It’s not easy picking stinging nettles every day for the caterpillars to eat. I used to use a plastic bag as a glove!

Best wishes, Susan J. Hewitt

]]> By: Susan J. Hewitt http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2009/03/31/tortoiseshell-from-iran/comment-page-1/#comment-2537 Susan J. Hewitt Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:17:14 +0000 http://www.whatsthatbug.com/?p=15183#comment-2537 Hi Daniel, I believe that this is the Small Tortoiseshell <i>Aglais urticae</i>, which is common in Europe, but which also occurs all the way across Asia. Assuming I am correct about the species, the caterpillars feed on the common stinging nettle <i>Urtica dioica</i> and the small nettle <U. urens. The butterflies overwinter, often in houses or other buildings, and then come out in the spring, looking a bit worse for wear. Mohsen may not start to see caterpillars for a while, because the butterflies need to mate, lay eggs and the eggs hatch and grow a bit before the darkish, somewhat hairy caterpillars are noticeable on beds of nettles. I used to raise these butterflies myself when I still lived in England. It's not easy picking stinging nettles every day for the caterpillars to eat. I used to use a plastic bag as a glove! Best wishes, Susan J. Hewitt Hi Daniel,

I believe that this is the Small Tortoiseshell Aglais urticae, which is common in Europe, but which also occurs all the way across Asia.

Assuming I am correct about the species, the caterpillars feed on the common stinging nettle Urtica dioica and the small nettle <U. urens.

The butterflies overwinter, often in houses or other buildings, and then come out in the spring, looking a bit worse for wear.

Mohsen may not start to see caterpillars for a while, because the butterflies need to mate, lay eggs and the eggs hatch and grow a bit before the darkish, somewhat hairy caterpillars are noticeable on beds of nettles.

I used to raise these butterflies myself when I still lived in England. It’s not easy picking stinging nettles every day for the caterpillars to eat. I used to use a plastic bag as a glove!

Best wishes, Susan J. Hewitt

]]> By: mohsen http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2009/03/31/tortoiseshell-from-iran/comment-page-1/#comment-2536 mohsen Thu, 02 Apr 2009 20:50:09 +0000 http://www.whatsthatbug.com/?p=15183#comment-2536 Thanks a lot for your reply... After examining images from the useful website "Butterflies and moths of Europe and North Africa" I discovered that its actually Nymphalis xanthomelas, or "The Yellow legged Tortoiseshell"... Yours: Mohsen Arooni, Tehran, Iran... Thanks a lot for your reply… After examining images from the useful website “Butterflies and moths of Europe and North Africa” I discovered that its actually Nymphalis xanthomelas, or “The Yellow legged Tortoiseshell”…
Yours: Mohsen Arooni, Tehran, Iran…

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